Manufacture of shovels



(NqModeL) T. W. WRIGHT.

MANUFACTURE OF SHOVELS.

No 455,587. 5 Patented Jul 7, 1891.

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4 UNITED STATES P TENT OFFICE.-

THOMAS w. wnien'r, on NEW BRIGHTON, ASSlGNOR F ONE-HALE TO WILLIAM J. ALFORD, or BEAVER FALLS, PENNSYLVANIA.

. MANUFACTURE OF 'SHOVELS.

V SPECIFICATION-forming part of Letters Patent No. 455,587, dated July '7, 1891. Application filed February 24, 1891. Serial No- 38Z 40L (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it'known that I, THoMAs W. WRIGHT,

' a resident of New Brighton, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, have i11- vented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Shovels; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof.

My invention relates to the manufacture of shovels, spades, and scoops, and is particularly, though not exclusively, adapted for the manufacture of such articles having single strapsthat is, shovels in which the strap portion is bent into tubular shape, so as to practically encircle the shovel-handlethese being known in the market as single-strap shovels. It is also applicable to shovels having one strap formed with a blade and the other riveted or welded on. The usual way to make these shovels has been to cut them from the heavy sheet or light plate metal from which they were formed, cutting the blanks to the size ready for bending up the strap portion into ordinary circular or socket shape; but this has caused considerable waste in the metal, as the only course was to out the blanks from the plates, wasting the metal on each side of the strap portions thereof. For the manufacture of other classes of shovels different ways of cutting the blanks therefor from the plates or slabs have been devised; but, so far as I know, in none of them have the blanks been out from the plates or slabs with practically no wastage whatever, all such methods of cutting requiring loss of metal either at one or both ends of the plateor slab from which they were cut.

The object of my invention is to provide a method of cutting these blanks from the plate or slab which will do away with the loss of metal, and also to provide a way of rolling the blanks for forming single-strap shovels, by whichI am enabled to form the strap portion of a lighter gage than the body of the shovel, this being extremely desirable, as it reduces the weight and saves metal without weakening the shovel itself.

To these ends my invention consists, generally stated, in cutting four blanks from. a plate or slab with the strap portions of all the blanks formed in the central part of the plate,

two extending in from the ends and two extending in from the sides, and so utilizing the central part of the plate for the formation of all the straps anddoing away with wastage.

It also consists in certainother improvements in the manner of cutting, such as by cutting one blank from the side of the slab, having its strap portion extending inwardly or toward the central portion thereof, and then cutting another blank from the opposite side of the plate, having its strap portion extending. inwardly, and so at the same time forming the two blanks at the endsof the plate, having their strap portions extending inwardly, the strap portions of the four blanks being thus formed from the central portion of the plate.

It also consists in forming these single-strap shovels from a blank corresponding substantially in width to the finished shovel and having the strap portion extending out at one end thereof by reducing this blank to the proper gage by rolling the same in plainfaced rolls from the point through the body, and thence to the strap portion,and thereby, on account of the strap portion being'so much narrower than the body, and on account of the reduction in pressure consequent topassing onto a narrower body, enabling the rolls to reduce said strap portion several gages thinner than the body portion of the blank.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will describe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view of the plate or slab from which the plates are to be formed, having the lines of shearing marked thereon. Fig. 2 is a like view showing one of the side blanks cut therefrom. Figs. 3 and at are views of the side and end blanks, respectively, obtained from the plate. to finished gage and indicates the line on which the shovel is out therefrom. Fig. 6 is an enlarged edge View of the same, and Fig. 7 shows the finished shovel.

Like letters and figures indicate like parts.

The plate or slab A is rolled from steel of the proper quality, the usual custom being to reduce theingot between rolls to substantially Fig. 5 shows the blanks rolledthe width required for the end blanks-that is, on the line a b-and then to cut the plate into smaller plates of a length snfficient for forming the several blanksthat is, between a and c. The plate A is then taken to suitable shears or punch and a blank cut from the side thereofsuch as the blank 1, which, seen in Fig. 2,forms the out along the top edge of the blanks 3 and 4-cutting out half the top edges d of the body portions 9 thereof and half of the strap portions f thereof and along the top edge of the strap portion 9 of the blank 2. The plate is then turned around by the operator and again fed to the shears and the blank 2 cut therefrom, severing the plate along the remaining top edges (1 of the blanks 3 and 4 and along the remaining portions of the straps f thereof and forming the four blanks, 1 and 2 having their strap portions g, which meet in the center of the plate along the line 76, while the blanks3and 4 have the strap portions f, formed by the spaces between the bodies 7c of the blanks 1 and 2, so that the four blanksarefor'med without any waste. Itis thus seen that the strap portions of four blanks are formed from the central part ofthe plate,'the point edges Z of the blanks 1 and 2 being formed from the side edges of the plate, while the point edgesz' of the blanks 3 and 4 are formed by the ends of the plate, and the side edges 7' of said blanks are formed by the side edges of the plate.

It will be noticed that in the blanks illustrated in the drawings the two end blanks 3 and 4 are of greater width and of greater length than the blanks 1 and 2. For forming single-strap shovels this is desirable, as it enables me to form the large blanks for scoops and wide shovels from the end blanks 3 and 4, while the ordinary small shovels and spades can be formed from the blanks 1 and 2. As shown by the dotted lines m m n 012 however, blanks of practically the same size may be formed in the same manner, though this will only be applicable to the formation of blanks for double-strap shovels, the blanks being cut from the plate or slab of a size corresponding to said lines mm m m and the strap portions being then punched so as to form the double straps, and the blanks then rolled to shape. In such case the exact lines of division for the straps might be changed somewhat, but would embody the same principle. It will thus be seen that in cutting the blanks from the plates or slabs with the strap portions in the central part of the plate I am enabled to out out the blanks without any waste of metal whatever. In rolling these blanks to the .proper gage or thickness for single-blank shovels such as shown in Figs. 5 and G I generally employ the ordinary plain -faced chilled rolls, which can either be formed with parallel sides or may be made slightly hollowed, so as to roll the side edges .of the shovel somewhat thinner than the central portion of thesame, which is sometimes desirable to increase the strength and wearing qualities, and I feed the heated blanks to the rolls with the front edge lor 0 of the body portion first, so that the rolls will first compress and draw out the body of the blank and then pass onto the strap portion thereof to draw it out. I employ this method of rolling in order to obtain a somewhat thinner strap portion than the body of the shovel, as I find that as the strap portion is so much narrower than the body 'of the blank as the rolls.

pass onto this strap portion they will act to reduce the same thinner than the body or blade, this result being obtained because there is not such a body of metal between the rolls when they are acting upon the strap portion, and they therefore act with greater power, and so reduce said strap portion thinner than the plate, a strap portion a of several gages thinner than the blade 1) being obtained in this way, and this being desirable in the finished shovel, spade, or scoop, as the strap portion is bent, as shown in Fig. 7, into tubular form to form the socket 'r and does notrequire so much metal as is required in the blade of the shovel, and the strap also fits more closely to the handle inserted within the socket thereof. By this method of cutting blanks I am also enabled by regulating the thickness, length, and width of the plates or slabs acted upon to obtain shovels of different weight, as may be desired, and at all times to form the same without any loss of metal further than the ordinary trimming of the rolled blank shown in Fig. 5, from which the shovel is to be cut.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The herein-described method of forming shovel blanks, consisting in cutting four blanks from a plate or slab and forming the strap portions of all the blanks in the central part of the plate, the straps of two of the blanks extendingin a right angle to thestraps of the other two blanks, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The herein-described method of forming shovel-blanks, consisting in cutting from the side of a plate or slab a blank having the THOMAS W. WRIGHT.

Witnesses:

JOHN P. EDGAR, C. H. CORBUS. 

